Cheap(er) third-party iPhone battery replacements roll around

iPhone owners aren't happy that it might cost them $86 to have Apple replace …

There's been a lot of huff about the iPhone Battery Replacement Program offered by Apple, but iPhone owners shouldn't be concerned. The budding iPod industry has extended to welcome the iPhone into its circle, so that means third parties are beginning to offer similar services to Apple's at a fraction of the cost. This is the case with the iPhone battery replacement offered by iPodJuice.com.

Instead of paying a grand total of $85.95 to get that battery replaced by Apple, you can instead pay iPodJuice $25 for the battery. There are also options to pay $20 to send your iPhone to them and have it installed, $40 to get a box and return shipping label to have it installed for you, or $70 to get a box, return shipping label, have it installed for you, and returned via "fast shipping." That makes the low-end total $45, and the high-end total a somewhat-hefty $95.

However, iPodJuice also says that if you're good with soldering and feel confident that you can replace the darn thing yourself, you can remove the installation service when you check out and only purchase the battery. $25 and a little risk sounds perfect for some of our more ballsy readers.

As for the nitty gritty details, the battery is 1400mAh, and iPodJuice guarantees that the battery will last for ten full years after the date of purchase. If it fails before ten years is up (and really, do you honestly plan to keep that original iPhone in use for the next decade?), iPodJuice will replace it for free. Now that sounds like a pretty good deal.

Jacqui Cheng
Jacqui is an Editor at Large at Ars Technica, where she has spent the last eight years writing about Apple culture, gadgets, social networking, privacy, and more. Emailjacqui@arstechnica.com//Twitter@eJacqui